Mass Transit vs. Private Cars

Archive Report

Federal Aid to Mass Transit Systems

Traffic Congestion in urban areas keeps getting worse despite costly efforts to do something about it. The 1960 census showed that 64 per cent of American workers traveled to and from their jobs by private automobile; only 12 per cent patronized public transit facilities.1 More than 85 per cent of trips of all kinds in urban areas are taken by private car. Dominance of the automobile has been a boon to Detroit and the highway construction industry, but it has meant loss of passengers and profits for urban mass transportation companies. Lacking funds for modernization, they have been forced in many cases to curtail service or go out of business.

A number of state and local governments, aware of the ...

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